Busta Rhymes Recalls Tupac Shakur Choking a Soundman

Busta Rhymes been out since the mid-1990s, so you already know that he brushed shoulders with other legends when they were all on the come up together.

During an Instagram live appearance on The Fat Joe Show, the New York rapper recalled witnessing the late Tupac Shakur choking a soundman. “We getting ready to do the soundcheck, but the soundman was on some bullshit,” Busta—who was a member of Leaders of the New School at the time of the incident—recounted. “He’s shutting shit down and acting like he’s getting ready to leave. We kinda on some ‘Damn, we really want to get this soundcheck done.’ The crazy thing is that ‘Pac saw there was a little bit of friction going on. And he just came and involved himself in the situation. ‘Pac turned to this white man and he was like ‘Yo, I need you to cut this motherfucking soundboard on. Leaders of the New School are going to get their soundcheck done, right now.'”

But Pac’s aggressive behavior didn’t fly with the soundman and things went left. “He just started spazzing on dude,” Busta continued. “The man wasn’t trying to hear what ‘Pac was talking about, so ‘Pac just ran up on this motherfucker and started choking him. ‘You motherfucker!’ So we had to grab ‘Pac, cause we ain’t asking for all of this, we just want a soundcheck! This ain’t war! But that’s the type of dude ‘Pac was. He went out of his way to extend love.”

If you’re a Busta Rhymes fan, then you know he went to High School with JAY-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. In another conversation with 85 South, Busta Rhymes recalled losing a rap battle to Jay, and crediting him for being one of the originators of speed rap.

“In the process of me trying to get my shit together with it me and Hov ended up having a battle,” Busta explained. “Ultimately, Hov got the best of the battle in that moment because I was just starting to figure out how to master my fascination with the speed rap.”

He continued, “At the time, I never heard no rappers do it.. I have to say the only people that was f*cking w/ it on some rap shit was the Originators.”